Works to extend the garage of Transport Minister Joe Mizzi’s Kalkara home have attracted the ire of his neighbour, Alleanza Liberali leader John Zammit, who is adamant that the excavation works taking place threaten the structural integrity of both their homes.

Both men live in a cluster of three homes fronting a raised platform overlooking Italian Mission Street, which forms part of the Kalkara housing estate. This platform, however, has been removed to pave the way for the extension of Mr Mizzi’s garage – as well as the construction of a garage in the other home neighbouring Dr Zammit’s own, making it practically impossible to access each house from its front door, although each can be accessed from the rear.

While works are taking place, however, Dr Zammit is living in his second residence in Marsalforn. The present arrangement also means mail addressed to his primary home does not get through, leading him to open a post-office box in Gozo.

The works are covered by a valid MEPA permit, which was issued in December 2011 following a positive recommendation by the assigned case officer. Curiously, while the approval of the garage extension was a straightforward matter, the approval of the garage itself was not: MEPA had refused to grant a permit on the recommendation of the case officer, only for the decision to be overturned on appeal.

But Dr Zammit is claiming that the excavation works that are taking place are going too deep, threatening the foundations of both the minister’s home and his own.

When contacted, he said that his architect had advised him to carefully photograph everything, to be able to assess any damage that may subsequently take place. His lawyer, on the other hand, simply advised him to sue his neighbour if any damage is caused.

There is perhaps little love lost between the two neighbours, whose feud dates back to the time when Dr Zammit was still actively involved in the Labour Party which he left in the 1980s.

Dr Zammit’s articles criticising Mr Mizzi as well as the works carried out on his home – including an extension to its size – led to the then-MP to seek criminal libel proceedings against Dr Zammit.

Dr Zammit, a former journalist, faced three criminal libel proceedings in all: the first saw him fined and ordered not to molest his neighbour for one year in 2010, but he was acquitted on appeal a year later.

He was also acquitted in a second case last year, when a court ruled that as public figures, politicians should be more tolerant of criticism and that everyone had the right to express their opinion about politicians’ behaviour without fear of facing criminal proceedings. The third is still pending.

What is certain is that these proceedings have not deterred Dr Zammit from continuing to publicly criticise his politician neighbour, at one point telling The Malta Independent that the minister’s behaviour – “he is acting like a bulldozer,” he remarked at one point – reminded him of the excesses that led him to leave the Labour Party long ago.